Our dread now was, that if we fired upon the tiger, we might kill the man:  for a moment there was a pause, when his comrade attacked the beast exactly in the same manner as the gallant fellow himself had done.  He struck his bayonet into his head; the tiger rose at him—­he fired; and this time the ball took effect, and in the head.  The animal staggered backward, and we all poured in our fire.  He still kicked and writhed; when the gentlemen with the hog-spears advanced, and fixed him, while the natives finished him, by beating him on the head with hedge-stakes.  The brave artillery-man was, after all, but slightly hurt:  he claimed the skin, which was very cheerfully given to him.  There was, however, a cry among the natives that the head should be cut off:  it was; and in so doing, the knife came directly across the bayonet.  The animal measured scarcely less than four feet from the root of the tail to the muzzle There was no tradition of a tiger having been in Jaffna before; indeed, this one must have either come a distance of almost twenty miles, or have swam across an arm of the sea nearly two in breadth; for Jaffna stands on a peninsula, on which there is no jungle of any magnitude.”

INDIAN DEVIL.

There is an animal in the deep recesses of the forests of Maine, evidently belonging to the feline race, which, on account of its ferocity, is significantly called “Indian Devil”—­in the Indian language, “the Lunk Soos;” a terror to the Indians, and the only animal in New England of which they stand in dread.  You may speak of the moose, the bear, and the wolf even, and the red man is ready for the chase and the encounter.  But name the object of his dread, and he will significantly shake his head, while he exclaims, “He all one debil!”

An individual by the name of Smith met with the following adventure in an encounter with one of these animals on the Arromucto, while on his way to join a crew engaged in timber-making in the woods.

He had nearly reached the place of encampment, when he came suddenly upon one of these ferocious animals.  There was no chance for retreat, neither had he time for reflection on the best method of defence or escape.  As he had no arms or other weapons of defence, his first impulse, in this truly fearful position, unfortunately, perhaps, was to spring into a small tree near by; but he had scarcely ascended his length when the desperate creature, probably rendered still more fierce by the promptings of hunger, sprang upon and seized him by the heel.  Smith, however, after having his foot badly bitten, disengaged it from the shoe, which was firmly clinched in the creature’s teeth, and let him drop.  The moment he was disengaged, Smith sprang for a more secure position, and the animal at the same time leaped to another large tree, about ten feet distant, up which he ascended to an elevation equal to that of his victim, from which he threw himself